Canucks to offer comfort to Hunter Shinkaruk after prospect cut from Team Canada

Hunter Shinkaruk of the Vancouver Canucks, left, and Yannick Weber celebrate Shinkaruk's pre-season goal against the San Jose Sharks on Sept. 16, 2013, at Rogers Arena in Vancouver.

Photograph by: Darryl Dyck
, The Canadian Press

CHICAGO — Assistant general manager Laurence Gilman will have one less Canuck prospect to watch when he heads to the World Junior Hockey Championship in Malmo, Sweden next week.

Hunter Shinkaruk, the speedy Medicine Hat Tigers’ winger the Canucks selected late in the first round of this year’s NHL entry draft, was one of two final cuts Friday by Team Canada.

Gilman knows Shinkaruk, who has battled hip and shoulder injuries this season, will be profoundly disappointed.

“First of all, I think every kid playing hockey in Canada wants to play for Team Canada at their level,” Gilman said before the Canucks beat the Blackhawks at the United Center on Friday. “I’m sure it is extremely disappointing for Hunter. Unfortunately for him, he has had a tough year. He sustained two different injuries that have clearly impacted his performance. It is a testament to him and his skill set, and what Hockey Canada thinks about him, that they brought him to Copenhagen for their pre-tournament.

“Unfortunately, guys that he was competing with outplayed him and that’s hockey. That happens. We think that Hunter is going to be more than fine in the long run. There will be other opportunities for him to wear the Maple Leaf and he’ll get over this.”

Canuck prospect Bo Horvat, the London Knights’ centre selected ninth overall this summer, remains with the team and scored a goal in Canada’s 4-2 win over Finland in a pre-tournament game Friday in Copenhagen.

Gilman said the team will reach out to Shinkaruk to try to cushion the blow.

“In the next day or two either Stan Smyl or Mike (Gillis) or Lorne (Henning) or I or perhaps all of us will reach out and talk to him,” Gilman said.

Gilman said the team has no concern over the lingering injuries that have hampered Shinkaruk this season.

“No, we brought him in last month, we got him assessed by our doctors and he has seen doctors in his hometown in Calgary,” Gilman said. “We feel we have a handle on what has occurred with him and he will recover fully.”

TAKING A GAMBLE: Given his team’s shootout woes before Friday’s win, John Tortorella had talked about gambling a bit in overtime to try to avoid the penalty-shot competition.

He lived up to his word as he used three forwards and just one defenceman late in OT to try to press for the win.

“Yeah, we tried that in the second half of the four-on-four,” Tortorella said. “We are going to try to stay aggressive in that four-on-four.”

Hamhuis was just shy of the 30-minute mark on Friday and Tortorella said all those minutes are a reflection of his strong play.

Hamhuis has bounced back after a tough start to his season.

“He has played very well,” Tortorella said. “I told you, I thought he was awful earlier in the year. I had watched him from afar and I didn’t even recognize him. I think he settles us down. Even with the power play, he doesn’t have the big shot, he doesn’t have a lot of power-play points, but he settles our power play down ... That is what he brings, he is cerebral and he just brings us that type of attitude.”

RIVALRY LIVES: NHL realignment means the Canucks and Blackhawks don’t see quite as much of one another as they used to. But defenceman Kevin Bieksa doesn’t think that means the rivalry will be diminished.

“Maybe it gets exponentially greater because we only play them twice (or three times) a year,” Bieksa said. “There is going to be positives and negatives to realignment. It is not going to be the perfect solution for everything, but they feel like right now it’s in the best interests of the fans to be able to see every team every year. ... Obviously, we’d like to play Chicago more. We feel like they bring out the best in us.”

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